Sagrat Cor de Jesus

Historia

Sagrat Cor de Jesus is a monument located 3.5mi north of Ibiza Town on the Spanish island of Ibiza.DescriptionThe monument is built from stone and is 23 meters tall. The base pedestal and the pillar were constructed by a construction company from the island of Majorca by the name of Joan Serra. The onsite construction was carried out under the supervision of Joan Costa, master builder from Ibiza. The design structure and detail was carried out by architect Guillermo Moragues. The statue of Christ was carved by the Valencian sculptor Antoni Sanjuan. This statue of Christ resembles the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado mountain outside the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The Ibizan statue is 14 meters shorter than its Brazilian cousin.HistoryThis memorial was completed on the 12th October 1947 and was constructed at the instruction of Antonio Cardona Riera who was the Bishop of Ibiza between 2 Feb 1950 to the 28 Mar 1960. The memorial and Christ statue was constructed to commemorate and to give thanks to the local population for giving sanctuary and a place of hiding to Antonio Cardona Riera, known on the island as Frit, during the Spanish Civil War. The late summer of 1936 saw a period of time during the conflict when Ibiza churches had become a target of hate and were set alight and priests were being killed. Following the military rebellion on Ibiza by the Nationalist the island had been re-captured by the Republicans under the leadership of Alberto Bayo. When Bayo left the island for Majorca, the FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation) were left in control and it was during this period that Cardona decided to go into hiding for several days in these hills and was able to survive with the help of the local population.